Support Old Florida at Cortez Fishing Festival This Weekend

BRADENTON -- Residents and visitors can support the FISH Preserve by attending the annual Cortez Fishing Festival this weekend in the Cortez Village. The festival is easy to find. Just head west toward the beaches on Cortez Road in Bradenton and you can’t miss it (4415 119th St. W., Bradenton, 34215).  The festival will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $3.00 for adults and children under 12 free.

A major milestone in efforts to restore the FISH Preserve will be reached this year. Within approximately six months earth moving equipment will be sculpting parts of the property to create new fisheries and wildlife habitat. New shallow lagoons and mangrove wetland habitat will support juvenile fish and a variety of wildlife. Cortez residents have waited since the purchase of the Preserve in 2000 for this dream to come true.

An aerial view of the FISH Preserve in Cortez

In order to protect this investment in habitat restoration, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Fish (FISH) recently entered into a legally binding Conservation Easement to further protect the Preserve form inappropriate development. This measure was almost universally endorsed by village residents.

The Preserve (95 acres of habitat along the Sarasota Bay shoreline picture right) lies immediately adjacent to the historic fishing village of Cortez. Residents annually organize the Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival to raise the money needed to purchase this property. It’s quite the affair, as 20,000 people stroll through the village enjoying the scenery, music, arts and crafts, and of course plenty of delicious local seafood. This historic village was first settled in the 1880's and continues as a pristine example of old Florida.

Funding for the upcoming work comes from a variety of partners. Major project sponsors are the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWIM Program) and the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program. It has taken a lot of team work to get this far, but residents and visitors can support the FISH Preserve by attending the Annual Cortez Fishing Festival this weekend in the Cortez Village. The festival is easy to find. Just head west toward the beaches on Cortez Road in Bradenton and you can’t miss it (4415 119th St. W., Bradenton, 34215).

The festival will run fron 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $3.00 for adults and children under 12 free. Offsite parking available at G.T Bay Park overflow parking (5502 33rd Ave. Dr. W., Bradenton 34209 – turn east off of 59th St onto 33rd Ave. Dr.) or at Coquina Beach with shuttle bus to Cortez ($2.50 round trip). Additional parking will be available east of the village off of Cortez Road (5 minute walk).  Also, there will be parking within the western part of the village.